Last Updated: Sep 21, 2020
After building over 100 customized tiny homes, the company Tiny Innovations has learned a few things about how to build a home that feels large, despite its modest size. The Cayman Tiny Home, which is the largest of their Innovative Series, offers a unique combination of luxury and practicality. Taylor and Brittany Lawrence recently purchased a Cayman tiny home, complete with a full set of personalized additions that makes their home uniquely theirs. RISE recently sat down to talk with Jeremy Killian of Tiny Innovations Tiny Homes to learn about the unique process of designing and building the Lawrence’s tiny home.
According to Jeremy, who is president and partner of Tiny Innovations Tiny Homes, “we always strive to work one on one with our client. Whether it be a pre-determined production floor model or a complete one of a kind custom home, a Tiny Innovations team member or one of the owners will spend whatever time is needed to work with the client to make sure the project is done 100% satisfactory to the clients’ expectations.”
While the specs used on the Cayman model have been used for other clients, the finished product is 100% unique to the Lawrence family. The trailer for the home is a certified hand-built chassis with trailer brakes and highway lighting. This not only makes the Cayman tiny home Department of Transportation (DOT) approved, but the home also comes with RVIA Certification (Recreational Vehicle Industry Association) and a one-year limited warranty that allows the homeowner to pick up their home and travel.
Certifications are an important part of the quality assurance equation because not every tiny home is built with quality in mind. A recent story in Canada’s CTV News revealed that one tiny homebuilder is under investigation for having “scammed dozens of customers in Canada and the U.S. out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.” So it’s important to check out the builder, and builder’s references, prior to putting down any money.
While some tiny homes on wheels sacrifice thermal performance for the luxury of being built on a moving foundation (in other words, on a trailer or chassis), the Lawrence tiny home is specifically designed to optimize energy efficiency through superior construction methods.
Jeremy tells us that to optimize the energy efficiency of the Cayman model tiny home, “we use every precaution, starting with the sub-foundation. We do NOT build directly onto the chassis, [but rather] we actually subframe off the chassis with 2x4 framing and insulate with a metal belly pan and also a rigid foam board. To fill in any cracks, we then use spray foam insulation, sheeting and then the final flooring.”
The rest of the home equally relies on high-performance insulation and other energy-efficient heating and cooling strategies. “In our walls and ceilings,” Jeremy explains, “we typically use a high-performance poly-spray foam and really try to achieve the highest rigidity and insulating factors as possible. To heat and cool, we use a 1-ton mini split that will heat and cool the unit, or a cadet heating source as a back-up."
The Lawrence home also includes several vinyl, energy-efficient windows. This allows natural light to flood the home while not compromising the energy-efficient performance of the home.
It is not often that you find a tiny home on wheels that comes complete with a full-sized couch and flat-screen TV. The unique interior spacing and layout of this tiny house on wheels allows for several different rooms and spaces to take shape. The full-sized couch of the living room is placed next to the kitchen, which includes a high end energy-efficient stainless steel stove, an apartment-sized refrigerator, and a propane cooktop range and stove combo. The kitchen area even includes a stove hood vent.
A beautiful lofted area (accessed by a fun ladder) for Brittany and Taylor's two sons is located above the bathroom area, with long, rectangular windows that offer natural light in the spacious sleeping area. On the other side of the home, the master bedroom includes another flat-screen TV, a private sleeping area for the couple, a hanging closet, and even an electric fireplace. This room is separated from the rest of the house by three steps leading up to the raised room and an interior sliding pocket door.
The bathroom includes a stainless steel sink and faucet, a 36-inch vanity cabinet with porcelain sink and one faucet, a full-sized fiberglass shower, a dual flush round bowl toilet, and a tankless hot water heater. The one fresh water inlet simplifies the plumbing for the tiny house. For washing and drying clothes, the Lawrence home also incorporates a compact washer and dryer combo that is located underneath the ladder that leads to the kids’ lofted sleeping area.
Throughout the inside of the home, knotty pine tongue and groove interior cladding offers a rustic, though polished look while the exterior siding of knotty cedar with Board and Batten siding makes this beautiful tiny house on wheels look like much more than simply a moving trailer home. The home also has beautiful wooden shelving strategically placed to maximize the storage opportunities of the tiny home.
The Cayman model tiny home can also be customized to include a wide range of high-end energy-efficient appliances including fireplaces, granite sinks, and even a simple solar panel set up. Jeremy tells us that the company also offers a “Smart Home” package for homeowners wanting the best of technology in their tiny home.
“This (package) will consist of a NEST video doorbell all in one, a carbon-smoke detector 2 in 1, and a NEST thermostat control. An even higher package offers floodlight surveillance along with iPad control and or Alexia voice.” Jeremy goes on to explain that “we can add additional items like the newest system called Brilliant, an all-in-one touch screen command center and touch lights with one-way to four-way switches. Pretty much if you want all the modern comforts of today’s leading “Smart Homes,” our dedicated low voltage and “Smart Home” team can provide those options.”
The average price of a Tiny Innovations tiny home, such as the Lawrence Cayman tiny house on wheels is estimated to be between $75,000 to $80,000, and the home can be built in roughly 15-22 build days, or 600 to 800 man-hours of construction work. Less expensive than most homes, plus the luxury of space and high-end finishes makes this tiny home on wheels a great option to decrease your footprint.
Tobias runs an agroecology farm and a natural building collective in the mountains of El Salvador. He specializes in earthen construction methods and uses permaculture design methods to integrate structures into the sustainability of the landscape.